{"id":26332,"date":"2020-03-23T19:36:10","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T23:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=26332"},"modified":"2020-04-01T14:18:27","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T18:18:27","slug":"house-call-coronavirus-testing-in-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2020\/03\/23\/house-call-coronavirus-testing-in-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"House call coronavirus testing in Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What do the Russians get up to when they’re not interfering in our elections? Thus far, stopping coronavirus pretty much dead in its tracks (see “Why does Russia, population 146 million, have fewer coronavirus cases than Luxembourg?”<\/a> (CNN), in which border patrol, public health, and CDC-type workers simply do the job for which they are paid).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s it like on the ground in Moscow? My sources say that house calls are available for anyone who wishes to be tested. Call a phone number and a technician shows up with a small suitcase of equipment. A sample is collected. The lab result is delivered the next day. In the meantime, the person who called for the test is told to stay at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Update from reader comment: the merely paranoid or curious cannot get a test. Tests are reserved for those with some risk factor, e.g., travel.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How about here in Massachusetts? Only hospital inpatients and health care providers are tested. The testing presumably happens at some location where everyone who is likely to have coronavirus has assembled (i.e., if you didn’t have COVID-19 before you showed up for the test, you will have it a little later!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[If Trump gets the blame for everything that has gone wrong in the U.S. with our state public health departments, state governor actions\/inactions, CDC work, FDA failures to approve, lax border controls, etc., does that mean we have to credit Vladimir Putin for the diligent work of all of the low- and mid-level Russian government and health care workers? If so, does that make Putin a true savior of humanity?]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update 3\/28: “There have been 1,264 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and four deaths.” (Moscow Times<\/a><\/em>) I.e., if we believe that the testing capability is comparable (which it almost surely isn’t, since it isn’t comparable from U.S. state to U.S. state), all of Russia (144 million people) is about as badly hit as Tennessee (7 million). The article describes a variety of “flatten the curve” measures, such as a one-week paid holiday. So, ultimately, the Russian approaching to controlling the outbreak may end up not being that different from any other country’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related:<\/p>\n\n\n\n